Calif. cops rescue intoxicated teen from overpass

Police pulled a teenaged girl from a freeway overpass where she was taking pills while perched 30 feet above southbound lanes

By Jeremiah Dobruck
Daily Pilot

COSTA MESA, Calif. — Police pulled a teenage girl from a freeway overpass in Costa Mesa where she was taking pills while perched 30 feet above southbound lanes Tuesday evening, according to authorities.

Around 6:30 p.m., police found the teen inching along the outer edge of a bridge where Wilson Street passes over the 55 Freeway.

She'd managed to get around a safety barrier and worked her way along a ledge so that a 7-foot chain-link fence separated her from police officers and the overpass sidewalk, according to a news release from the Costa Mesa Police Department.

Officers said the girl smelled like alcohol and was swallowing pills while she was on the ledge. She didn't respond when they pleaded with her to head back to safety, according to police.

One officer, Paul McCarthy, stuck his arm through a 6-inch gap in the fence to block the girl from inching further toward the middle of the freeway, and other officers started cutting through the fence.

When the girl tried to get around McCarthy's arm, he grabbed her and, with the help of other officers, pulled her through the gap in the fence, according to police.

She was taken to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach for medical attention and monitoring, police said.